Warriors-Clippers was once the NBA’s most compelling rivalry, must-watch TV for basketball fans casual and obsessive. But with the Warriors having won all four contests in this season’s series — the latest being last night’s 17-point victory in ho-hum fashion — thoughts of an extended rivalry for years to come are quickly giving way to a reality where “Beat LA” is no longer a primary — or even secondary — objective for Stephen Curry and Co. While Golden State has its sights set on historical 73-win heights and another championship, Los Angeles is striving to not break any more bones in the fall out of top-tier status. Rivalry or not, these two teams are likely to face off again in the playoffs.
Here are 10 thoughts on the game:
1) Chris Paul is one of the best defensive point guards in the league and DeAndre Jordan is one of the most mobile big men on the planet, but even with those two on patrol, LA has no answer for the Curry-Green pick and roll (to be fair, no team does). Either they allow Steph (33 points) to run amok on a single defender at the top of the key, or they force the ball out of his hands and give Dray (12 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists) the opportunity to play 4-on-3 with shooters on either wing. Neither choice has yielded much success for LAC as they have lost to the Dubs in seven of the last eight meetings.
2) Klay Thompson’s fire-breathing tear from deep continued with a 7-of-10 night from downtown. The other Splash Brother dropped 16 points in the fourth quarter, 16 desperately needed points that kept LA at arms length while Steph and Dray rested. Klay finished with 32 on the night. In the last five games he is shooting a blistering 60.8% on 46 3-point attempts.
3) This game would have been far more competitive had CP3 and JJ Reddick hit shots at their average rate. LA’s backcourt duo connected on only 8-of-29 combined attempts (2-12 on 3-pointers) and missed numerous wide open shots. Even if the two teams are no longer equals in terms of talent, accomplishments and record, if everyone is healthy, the individual games in round two of the playoffs should be fun.
4) The Clippers’ bench is not great. The Warriors second unit was able to extend leads in both the second and fourth quarters against LA’s subs, who all finished with a zero or negative in plus-minus. I mean, when you’re relying on Jeff Green, The Player Known As Nepotism and 36-year-old Jamal Crawford, Doc the GM might need some help building a roster.
5) Speaking of Jamal, I always root for him to make his first basket against the Warriors. If he sees that first one goes down, you know he’s going to start launching (I remember his Warrior days). I’ll take those odds against the 39% shooter any day; Crawford went 3-10 after that first make. (JR Smith, Dion Waiters, Marcus Thornton are other guys I “root” for against the Dubs.)
6) While the rest of the league plays basketball, Stephen Curry is out there performing sleight-of-hand mag
7) DeAndre Jordan, the NBA league-leader in field goal percentage at 70.8%, airballed a 15-footer.
8) Steve Kerr had the starters in until the final horn. That seemed odd until I remembered the Clips’ reserves scored nine points in the final 73 seconds in the previous meeting.
9) If the Clippers don’t get out of the second round of the playoffs this year, you’d have to imagine one of their Big Three will be moved in the off-season (Doc has even intimated as much). But which one? CP3, a diminutive point guard in his 30s? DeAndre Jordan, a center who can’t play in the end of games in a league trending toward smalls? Or Blake Griffin, an all-world basketball player who broke his hand punching an equipment manager? Blake would probably net the most in return but he’s only 27 and was electric in the playoffs last year.
10) Hey everyone, let’s put our hands together one more time for that time Doc Rivers said the Warriors were lucky not to face the Clippers in the playoffs.